


The First Month

by jumpinjulianofnorwich



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Menstruation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8424667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumpinjulianofnorwich/pseuds/jumpinjulianofnorwich
Summary: Erin's handling this whole having a girlfriend thing well. Mostly. It's a work in progress.





	

All things considered prize winning physicist, founding Ghostbusters member, and recently self-identified bisexual Erin Gilbert thought she was handling this whole “having a girlfriend” thing pretty well. 

It wasn’t like there had been a lot to adjust _from_ after all. She might have been worried about this Holtzmann experiment blowing up into a particle collision of awkwardness and regret, except that description could quite accurately describe all of her previous relationships, regardless of gender. The thing that had astounded her more than Holtzmann being a woman was that Holtzmann had made all of the first moves-the first flirtation, the first kiss, the first date, the first invitation back to her apartment. Erin had been pleased to stumble along to Holtzmann’s confident lead rather than shamefully trying to initiate things. Sex had certainly been a concern-but Holtz had been just as skilled and adept at guiding Erin through that as her cheeky grin and engineer’s hands would lead you to believe (though in truth Erin didn’t need much guiding-when push came to shove she had startled herself by how easily she had fallen into Holtzmann’s bed.) 

Erin didn’t fit most of the queer girl stereotypes, but she was embarrassed to find that after having dated barely a month they were already practically living together. (She had needed Holtzmann to explain Patty’s dry joke about getting her a U-Haul for a coming out present.) 

For the most part being with Holtzmann was both easy and exhilarating. The way she talked over inventions and theories with Holtzmann was like the feeling of completing their first bust over and over again. Whereas her crush on Kevin had been clumsy and desperate her feelings for Holtzmann made her feel confident and intelligent. Any identity crisis she might have had over her sexuality was mitigated by the feelings of self-assurance she got just from being around Holtzmann. 

Yes, Erin Gilbert was liking this whole having a girlfriend thing. But she was now faced with a situation that she had not prepared for. 

The four of them had completed a bust earlier that morning and Holtzmann had begged off from the rest of the day with a headache. Normally one for long hours, Erin instead headed back to her apartment as soon as she and Abby completed work on a draft of their latest paper. The firehouse was eerily quiet without the background sound of Holtzmann’s antics-and besides Erin was worried. Holtzmann only played hooky if there was something seriously wrong with her (that winter Erin, Abby, and Patty practically had to place her under house arrest due to her insistence on working through an almost hallucinatory fever.) 

Erin walked into her apartment to find Holtzmann curled on her couch, wearing an oversized sweater and a pair of Erin’s sweat pants. The normally static engineer was completely motionless. 

“Holtz?” Erin said tentatively. 

“ _What._ ” The engineer’s voice was cold and irritated. Erin felt her stomach drop. She had never heard Holtzmann speak like that before, let alone to her. 

“Um…is everything…alright?” Erin asked. Erin was painfully unfamiliar with taking care of people and all of a sudden felt very out of her depth.

Holtzmann looked up and fixed Erin with an icy stare. “If you do not get on this couch and cuddle me right now I will not only break up with you I will trap you in a spectral containment unit and vaporize you back to Michigan.” 

Erin wasn’t sure whether to laugh or run. 

“Do you…want a blanket or anything?” Holtzmann nodded. Erin put her bag down and went to her bedroom to get a comforter. 

“Wait.” Erin paused. “...can there also be hot chocolate?” Holtzmann asked, her voice all of a sudden sounding rather pitiful. 

Erin agreed to both requests and a few minutes later she was cradling a blanket wrapped Holtzmann who was herself cradling a mug of Swiss Miss. 

“Holtz…” Erin said after a moment. “You have to tell me what’s wrong. I’ve never seen you like this before and it’s honestly kind of scary.” Holtzmann groaned and buried her face in Erin’s shoulder. “Holtz please, I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

“I’m omn i eereodd” she said, her voice muffled by Erin’s sweater. 

“What?”

“I’m. On. My. Period” she said again, enunciating bitterly. 

Now understanding her girlfriend’s pitiful visage Erin began to laugh uncontrollably. 

“All this tender affection you’re showing is really making me feel better,” Holtzmann said, taking an exaggerated sip of hot chocolate. “I feel super jazzed right now.” Erin made a mental note that in addition to headaches and chocolate cravings, periods apparently brought out a sense of sarcasm in Holtzmann. 

“I’m sorry it’s just…I mean you look _really_ wrecked right now Holtz. And not in your usual fun way.”

“You have the bedside manner of an undertaker on heroin,” Holtz informed her. 

“Takes one to know one,” Erin sniped back. She put a tentative hand on Holtzmann’s shoulder, all of a sudden unsure what to do. “Do you want…to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Holtzmann asked. “I have a literally pounding headache, my uterus feels like it’s about to burst out of my abdomen like a class three apparition, I can’t stop thinking about chocolate, I’m _horny as shit_ but can’t do anything about it because of the aforementioned headache and the fact that you would probably squick out at the thought of getting blood on your lily-white sheets.”

“I handle ghost slime! Sort of.”

“But not in your bed.” Holtzmann took another sip of hot chocolate. “Well, I guess there was that one time…”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Erin said forcefully. “Is there anything…you want to do? We could rent a chick flick? I could run to Duane Reade and pick up some Ben and Jerry’s?”

“Just because I’m on my period doesn’t mean I’ve turned into a straight girl.”

“Holtz you would eat your weight in Ben and Jerry’s if given the option.”

Holtzmann considered this. “Well maybe your weight.” Suddenly Holtzmann let out a sharp laugh. 

“What?” Erin asked warily.

“Man, we’re all going to go _to shit_ when we sync up.” 

“…Wow,” Erin said, raising her eyebrows at the thought. “I remember when Abby and I started synching up with each other in grad school. We’d be in shouting matches with each other one minute and then swapping Advil and Hershey Kisses the next.” 

“The way Abby tells it you had shouting matches WAY more than once a month.” Erin shrugged. 

“Yeah but they always got…I don’t know...not worse but sillier. I remember once we freaked out some freshman because we were screaming bloody murder over the right way to pronounce ‘spectrometer.’”

Holtzmann nodded. “It feels kind of witchy doesn’t it? A bunch of ladies, sharing close, probably haunted quarters, bound by blood, in tune with one another’s most volatile emotions.”

“We fight ghosts Holtz. It was already pretty witchy.” Holtzmann nodded and leaned her head gently against Erin’s shoulder. Taken off guard by the unusually soft display of affection from Holtz, Erin felt herself stiffen. 

“Am I…doing this right?”

“Rub my back?” Holtzmann asked. Erin obliged and soon her girlfriend was practically purring. 

“Muuuuccch better.” Holtzmann continued to sip her Swiss Miss before asking “You ok Gilbert?”

“Yes? I guess? I don’t know, I’m just worried about…that I’ll mess something up.”

“You know I’m easy,” Holtzmann said. “That doesn’t change just because I’ve got blood coming out of my pussy.” Holtzmann frowned when Erin didn’t rise to her crass language. “Look, babe…Erin…you know I’m not good at feelings and that goes doubly so when I have a headache and my hormones are wigging out. So whatever it is…” 

Erin sighed and started drumming her fingers against Holtzmann’s back, as if considering some complex physics problem. “This just didn’t occur to me ok?” she finally said, a small smile creeping onto her face. “When we started this, feeding you chocolate while you whimper about period cramps wasn’t something I imagined us doing.” 

Holtzmann raised an eyebrow. “What you thought it was going to be all epic ghost fighting and wacky science experiments and crazy good sex? Sorry to disappoint.”

“I’m not disappointed,” Erin said quietly. “I mean don’t get me wrong I _like_ the science-”

“Not to mention the sex.” 

Erin gave her girlfriend an exasperated look. “It’s just… _this_ just feels so…normal. For us. For me.” She moved her hand and started stroking Holtzmann’s hair. She was startled by how easy the show of affection came to her. She had always been shy about receiving any sort of physical affection. She’d been terrified by the few partners she’d had who would kiss her on the cheek or stroke her hair, paralyzed by dread that in such rare, tender moments they would see all her uncertainty and decide she wasn’t worth the trouble. And for Erin, giving affection normally involved stuttering, blushing, and frightened looks from the recipient. Whatever showing affection meant, she was still working out the kinks. “I’m not sure I know how to do normal.”

Holtzmann shrugged. “Hey you’re talking to the girl who was voted ‘most likely to accidentally give herself mutant superpowers’ and ‘most likely to become a crazy cat lady’ in high school. Normal doesn’t exactly put the curve in my Pringle ya know?” 

“But you have more practice with…” Erin gestured awkwardly reached out and gestured at the two of them slumped together on the couch. “With this kind of normal.” 

Holtzmann grimaced. “Not really. Not for more than a couple of weeks at least.” The blonde stared morosely down into her now empty mug. Erin fidgeted uncomfortably when Holtzmann’s frown did not suddenly flash into a cheeky grin or cockeyed stare. She wondered if Holtzmann was also prone to moodiness during her period, or if she just no longer cared about letting Erin see when something upset her. 

She wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but she leaned over and kissed Holtzmann’s forehead. 

“…we’ll just have to learn I guess,” Holtzmann finally said quietly.

“Yeah,” Erin responded. 

“Experiment.”

“We’re good at that.” 

“The best of the best.” Erin nodded. 

“Where do you want to start?” 

Holtzmann bit her lip, making the same face she did when she hit a snag in one of her projects. After a moment she looked up at Erin, a wry smile on her face. It was different from her typical grin, less happy-go-lucky but also more affectionate. Erin suddenly Erin felt butterflies in her stomach. 

“How about some more chocolate?”


End file.
